A compromise on a dramatic “border surge” that would sink billions more dollars into security measures along the U.S.-Mexican line drew criticism Thursday as overkill and bad policy but appeared to ensure Senate passage of a landmark immigration-reform bill by the end of next week.

The border surge, as the tentative bipartisan deal is being called, would double the number of Border Patrol agents to nearly 40,000 at an estimated cost of $30billion.

It would also require 350miles of pedestrian fence on the border to be built in addition to the 350miles or so already in place, and increase the number of aerial drones and the surveillance equipment used to detect illegal border crossings. The surveillance equipment is expected to cost an additional $3.2billion.

The development electrified the Senate debate on a sweeping bill that had been struggling under attacks that it was too soft on border security. Senate watchers predicted the border proposal, authored by Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and John Hoeven of North Dakota, could bring the immigration legislation close to the 70-vote supermajority in the 100-member Senate that the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” wants in order to increase pressure on the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to act.

The tough amendment did not appear to drive away any Democratic supporters of the bill — which also contains a centerpiece pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the country — and immediately won the support of one new Republican, Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.

“This border surge is breathtaking in its size and scope,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Gang of Eight’s chief Democratic negotiator. “This deal will deploy an unprecedented number of boots on the ground and drones in the air.”

Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, two of the four GOP members of the bipartisan Senate group, signed on as co-sponsors of the amendment, which was expected to be filed late Thursday.

The Democrat-controlled Senate was on course to consider the new amendment early next week and have a final vote on the bill before senators leave town for their weeklong Fourth of July break.

“It’s really tough to make an argument against this bill on the basis of insufficient border-security elements,” Flake told The Arizona Republic. “This is a lot of border security. For those who were genuinely concerned about border security, this goes a long way.”

Others who closely follow the immigration debate expressed mixed emotions about the proposed border buildup, which they view as superfluous after years of money and effort spent to strengthen the border. One key immigration-reform advocate called the amendment “wasteful and excessive” but acknowledged that it appears likely to lead to the Senate’s passage of the bill.

It also provided a more palatable alternative to a rival border-security amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The Senate voted 54-43 on Thursday to shelve Cornyn’s tougher proposal, which many criticized as a “poison pill” that would have jeopardized the entire legislation.

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a national organization that champions comprehensive immigration reform, said the proposed escalation is “just awful public policy.”

“On the other hand,” he said, “it seems like it’s leading to a legislative breakthrough and attracting an additional 10 or 11 Republican votes.”

Louis DeSipio, a professor of political science and Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California-Irvine who closely follows immigration issues, said the extra border spending likely is more symbolic than anything, giving some Republicans political cover to support the bill. Many Republicans remain reluctant to endorse any bill that contains what grass-roots conservative activists decry as “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants.

DeSipio predicted that the Border Patrol will have difficulty hiring and maintaining staffing at such a ramped-up level. Democrats likely are going along with the plan only to make sure that the pathway to citizenship and other parts of the bill they support survive, he said. “At this point, they so desperately recognize the need for comprehensive immigration reform that they’re willing to accept spending that they probably recognize isn’t going to be very effective, just for the sake of keeping the coalition together,” DeSipio said.

Hoeven said the amendment would be paid for with the savings that the overall bill would generate for the federal government. According to a cost estimate released this week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $197billion over the first 10years and by an additional $700billion over the following decade.

“We use about $30billion of that to make darn sure the border is secure,” Hoeven said.

Conservative senators have complained loudly that the immigration-reform bill was weak on border security — a criticism that had threatened to derail the bill’s momentum.

According to the Customs and Border Protection website, 651 miles of physical barriers are already in place at the border. That figure includes 352 miles of pedestrian fencing and 299 miles of anti-vehicle fencing.

The security requirements of the Corker-Hoeven amendment would have to be met before undocumented immigrants could move from a temporary legal status to earning green cards that make them legal permanent residents.

“Additional technology must be deployed and operational in the field, and that includes new VADER (military) radar systems, integrated fixed towers, unmanned aerial system, fixed cameras, mobile surveillance system, ground sensors,” McCain said. “The head of the Border Patrol has assured us that if these technologies are in place and operational, that we can have 100percent situational awareness and 90percent effective control of the border.”

However, the 90percent effectiveness goal would not be mandatory, meaning that undocumented immigrants would not have to wait for that measurement to be fulfilled before they could earn green cards.

The Cornyn amendment would have required that goal to be achieved first. The Senate’s vote on Thursday essentially killed Cornyn’s measure. McCain and Flake voted to table the amendment, along with all but one member of the Gang of Eight.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was the only group member to oppose the move.

Initially, the Corker-Hoeven amendment also would have barred undocumented immigrants from getting green cards until the government achieved 90percent effective control of the border. But Gang of Eight members persuaded the authors to strike that language, which would have alienated most Democrats.

“Some of the proposals would have gone too far by perhaps destroying the path to citizenship,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., another Gang of Eight member.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., one of the most adamant opponents of the immigration-reform bill, said the proposed border-security change was not enough.

He said it still offers “amnesty first” by allowing undocumented immigrants to immediately apply for temporary legal status and stay in the country. Under the bill, they would have to wait 10years to earn green cards and 13years to become naturalized citizens.

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, which opposes the Senate bill, asked his group’s members to urge their senators to stop the amendment, which he called “a desperate political move by pro-amnesty forces to provide cover to pass a bill that would otherwise not pass.”

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